You're lovely!

Now THAT'S Lovely!

Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Jack Gilford, and Buster Keaton:

A bevy of beauties from Forum, the 1966 movie version,

music Stephen Sondheim, direction Richard Lester.

"Lovely"

Eileen Brennan,

the original Irene Molloy, milliner par excellence,

in the original production of Hello Dolly!

We'll hear Jerry Herman's "Ribbons Down My Back."

Another Jerry Herman production that didn't knock everybody's socks off:

Dear World.

Above, the show's star, Angela Lansbury..."Each Tomorrow Morning", and 

"I Was Beautiful"

Gotta have this number in a Beautiful Edition:
"Beautiful Girl"

with Jimmy Thompson and that marvelous fashion show in

Singin' In The Rain.

This song was written by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed,

for Stage Mother, a 1933 pre-code flick. 

And speaking/typing of Beautiful,

Donna McKechnie in A Chorus Line,

with "The Music And The Mirror."

Then from Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,

Howard Keel "Blessing (Jane Powell's) Beautiful Hide"

in the movie of 1954.

Johnny Mercer lyrics, and the music of Gene de Paul and 

Saul Chaplin.

Then from Hairspray,

"Big, Blonde, and Beautiful"

with Marissa Jaret Winokur, Mary Bond Davis, and Harvey Fierstein. 

Over the top!

 

And from the movie Funny Face,

we've got some advice "On How To Be Lovely"

from Audrey Hepburn and Kay Thompson.

So now you know how,

thanks to Roger Edens who provided additional tunes

to this originally-all-Gerswhin creation.

 

Playlist For February 28, 2021: The Beautiful Edition

 For some reason, my Facebook feed is currently full of Keto, Carnivore, and Vegan ads. Name a regime, it's popping up between cat memes, my aunt's recipe for refrigerator pickles, and Bridgerton promos.

...and not keto!

 1.) Carnivorically speaking, there's something called a Beef and Butter Fast. Really. This is a thing.

2.) Vegan-wise, you evidently can't live without spirulina, pea milk, and jack fruit. Of these 3 things, only 2 are green (quiz time!).

3.) And if Keto hands you kale, well...juice it, massage it with coconut oil, or better yet, put it in your Keto Brownies. Evidently it's just plain YUMMO (as Rachel The Ray would proclaim)(if she were Keto)(but she's not, she has a "carb face". That's a thing.)

What price Beauty.

I remain confused by most of it. "Macros" of fat, carbs and proteins (and don't forget the collagen!) are numbered/debated/tweaked/slashed, all championing glowing good health, miraculous weight loss, and living til you're 120 (cue the Crepe Erase)! 

Me? Coffee, croissants and pate, if you please. And a dry red. I think that's the "Pretend You're French" diet. You get your exercise on this regime by stiletto stalking in pencil skirts, sitting at cafes with your legs crossed (arms akimbo!), and tilting your head just so, as if to insinuate aloof curiosity. Guaranteed to bring about a 5-8 lb. loss of over-animated American Vulgar. THAT'S for me! (Been on it for years. Nothing yet. Don't mind waiting/weighting it out.)

And speaking of Beauty (huh? see above, you ninny), this Sunday's show is going to be a real beaut. I'm not kidding. It's going to win the Miss America Crown, the Miss Universe Porsche, and the Miss Milky Way Milky Way WITHOUT one damn morsel of beef or butter or questionable milk. Because it's The Beautiful Edition of 2 On The Aisle. Yup, lotsa songs with Beautiful in their titles, and Beauty in their souls. (Plus some Pretties and Lovelies and 1 Gorgeous, for good measure.)

Dame Angela in Dear World...

"And I Was Beautiful" 

The French "diet" seems to be working for her!

So whatever your regime or macros or aKIMbos, join me and we'll Keto the hell out of 2 hours...of Broadway At Its Best. (Hold the kale.)

 

 

And I Was Beautiful (Angela Lansbury, Dear World)

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning (Gordon MacRae, Oklahoma!)

Bless Your Beautiful Hide (Howard Keel, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers)

We Make A Beautiful Pair (Donna Theodore, Penelope Milford, Shenandoah)

Beautiful (Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical)

Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful (Jon Cypher, Julie Andrews, Cinderella)

Big, Blonde And Beautiful (Mary Bond Davis, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Harvey Fierstein, Hairspray)

Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love (Company, A Chorus Line)

Nothing (Priscilla Lopez, A Chorus Line)

The Music And The Mirror (Donna McKechnie, A Chorus Line)

Beautiful Girl (Jimmy Thompson, Ensemble, Singin' In The Rain)

The Most Beautiful Girl (Jimmy Durante, Jumbo)

By The Beautiful Sea (Ensemble, Some Like It Hot)

Beautiful Candy (Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jerry Orbach, Pierre Olaf, Carnival)

His Love Makes Me Beautiful (John Lankston, Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl)

I'm Alive (Lilli Cooper, Reg Rogers, John Behlmann, Ensemble, Tootsie)

Overture (Instrumental, Tootsie)

Unstoppable (Santino Fontana, Lilli Cooper, Tootsie) 

What's Gonna Happen (Sarah Stiles, Tootsie)

Lovely (Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum)

On How To Be Lovely (Audrey Hepburn, Kay Thompson, Funny Face)

If A Girl Isn't Pretty (Jean Stapleton, Kay Medford, Funny Girl)

Gorgeous (Barbara Harris, The Apple Tree)

Tell A Handsome Stranger (Ensemble, Little Mary Sunshine)

You Must Meet My Wife (Len Cariou, Glynis John, A Little Night Music)

Beautiful (Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, Sunday In The Park With George)

Pretty Women (Len Cariou, Edmund Lyndeck, Sweeney Todd)

There Is No Other Way (Soon-Tek Oh, Ensemble, Pacific Overtures)

A Little More Mascara (George Hearn, La Cage Aux Folles)

Ribbons Down My Back (Eileen Brennan, Hello Dolly!)

Each Tomorrow Morning (Angela Lansbury, Dear World)

They want it all!

 

 Along with plenty of contemporary Broadway selections this Sunday, we'll also sneak in some rather pushy dames!

 For instance, from Baby: Music by David Shire and Richard Maltby, Jr. (who also directed) and choreographed by Wayne Cilento (who was part of A Chorus Line's original Chorus Line!). It opened on Broadway in 1983, and played for over 200 performances, with a cast that included Liz Callaway, Beth Fowler, Todd Graff, Catherine Cox, Martin Vidnovic and James Congdon. 

The plot: 3 couples of different ages/phases of their lives, all expecting. And all of them sort of freaking out/emoting over it.

Above, what looks like the gals of the production singing "I Want It All".

"At a time when nearly every Broadway musical, good and bad, aims for the big kill with gargantuan pyrotechnics, here is a modestly scaled entertainment that woos us with such basic commodities as warm feelings, an exuberant cast and a lovely score. Perfect Baby is not, but it often makes up in buoyancy and charm what it lacks in forceful forward drive...".

Well, so saith Frank Rich of the NYTimes.

 

 

 

David Yazbek's musicalization of The Full Monty (which was first a Brit film from 1997) jumped on Broadway in 2000, and had 2 years of a pretty successful run!....David switched up the setting, from London to Buffalo, and made the main characters umemployed steel workers.

The show's original stars (above) included Kathleen Freeman, Andre DeShields, and Jason Danieley. That's David Yazbek in his usual stylish fedora at center.  

When Kathleen passed away during the run of the show, Jane Connell (of Agnes Gooch fame) took over the part.

We'll hear Emily Skinner from this production sing "Life With Harold"...

Emily also wowed audiences in The Prince Of Broadway, Dinner At Eight, Billy Elliot, Side Show, and Jekyll & Hyde.

 

 

 

Lucky Stiff  was the first collaboration for the music-writing-duo of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, performed off-Broadway in 1988. It was based on a novel, "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo, by Michael Butterworth.

Only 15 performances...

BUT it starred Mary Testa (below) as Rita, Stuart Zagnit as Vinnie, and Stephen Stout as Harry,.

Thank the gods, it was good/lucky (stiff) enuf to warrant a cast album!

 

 

 

[title of show], with music and book and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell is a musical about writing a musical! Rushing to write a one-act production to submit for a festival, the two friends were determined to write an original work, not one based on a play or movie...and their best idea seemed to be writing about what they were writing about. They soon included 2 gal friends, Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackman. [title] eventually landed on Broadway with it in 2008! Obie Awards, and a Tony nod came their way. We'll hear "What Kind Of Girl Is She?" (although my favorite is "Die Vampire Die!")

Playlist For Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021: The Ides Have It

 As I hammer out this playlist and peck out this blog, not 1 but 2 (on the aisle!) snow storms are looming (glooming) or' Western New York State. 'Bout ready to drop their "feet" of white stuff within the next few hours. So I am ready to rev my whine. Cuz like I hate ice fishing. My toes freeze in snowshoes. I have no winter OUTSIDE hobbies. And who wants 'em? 

 

Yeah, so it's still February, what weather would you expect for the Ides of February, Kim? You want tropic? Get thee to a Bahamanian latitude, already. RV it SOUTH, like waaaay south. Remember, it just snowed in Texas, so you'll really have a drive ahead of you. Costa Rica? Patagonia? Melbourne? BORA BORA?

 

Where is this place? That's more like it! I can so see me here!

I know I'm stuck with it. But harkening back to that 90 day count down (til April 1), we are now half-way there! Only 45 days left to put up with rock salt, snow pants, frozen digits, and incredibly detractive LLBean. My style is not made of flannel, hoodies, down OR layers that make ANY BODY look 30 pounds overweight. My stilettos atrophy in slush, okay? And my earrings fall off with ear muffs, my mascara runs in the wind (it's literally GONE with it!), and hats? Just NO. Lemme tall ya, it's not pretty.

 

So to jive up this situation, I finally bought myself a hi-fi. A turntable. A record player in a suitcase. Yup, going old school so I can finally play my old Broadway collection, which includes a Groucho Marx Mikado?? Where the hell did THAT come from? Plus original cast albums I've had boxed up for years. So here it is, my new "record player", ensconced in my purple meditation room (where I refuse to meditate)(I am an A Type person)(surprised?):

 

It looks better in person.

But for you? New-ISH Broadway come this Sunday. Gotta jive up the airwaves (and drop the whine/wine) with something besides Don Ameeeeeche! And Ethel. And Groucho! So we'll spin Dear Evan and Hades and Fun Home and Hamilton. Plus Bullets.  And my silly themes, cuz you know me.  :)

I'll have my snow pants on come Sunday, so don't look. The Ides of February may call the present fashion shots, but post-March...watch me!

 

 

Tiger Rag (Helene Yorke, Nick Cordero, Vincent Pastore, The Atta Girls, Bullets Over Broadway)

The Schuyler Sisters (Renee Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Leslie Odom, Jr., Hamilton)

Ten Duel Commandments (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Anthony Ramos, Hamilton)

The Room Where It Happened (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Hamilton)

Moving Too Fast (Norbert Leo Butz, The Last Five Years)

Still Hurting (Sherie Rene Scott, The Last Five Years)

Shiksa Goddess (Norbert Leo Butz, The Last Five Years)

Anybody Have A Map?(Rachel Bay Jones, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Dear Evan Hansen)

If I Could Tell Her (Ben Platt, Laura Dreyfuss, Dear Evan Hansen)

Ring Of Keys (Sydney Lucas, Fun Home)

Flying Away (Sydney Lucas, Emily Skeggs, Beth Malone, Fun Home)

Life With Harold (Emily Skinner, The Full Monty)

I Want It All (Liz Callaway, Beth Fowler, Catherine Cox, Baby)

Rita's Confession (Mary Testa, Jason Graae, Lucky Stiff)

Welcome To Nowhere (Katrina Lenk, Ensemble, The Band's Visit)

The Concert (Instrumental, The Band's Visit)

Itzik's Lullaby (John Cariani, The Band's Visit)

Answer Me (Adam Cantor, The Band's Visit)

All I've Ever Known (Nabiyah Be, Damon Daunno, Hadestown)

When The Chips Are Down (Amber Grey, Chris Sullivan, The Fates, Hadestown)

Wait For Me II (Chris Sullivan, Ensemble, Hadestown)

There's A Wah Wah Girl In Agua Caliente (Isham Jones and his Orchestra)

A Little Girl From Little Rock (Carol Channing, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) 

Who's That Girl? (Lauren Bacall, Applause)

I'm Not That Girl (Idina Menzel, Wicked)

What Kind Of Girl Is She? (Heidi Blickenstaff, Susan Blackman, [title of show])

The North Strand (Instrumental, Once)

Abandoned In Bandon (Andy Taylor, Once)

Falling Slowly (Steve Kazee, Once) 

Gold (Company, Once)

Let's Misbehave (Brooks Ashmanskas, Bullets Over Broadway)

They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me (Marin Mazzie, Lenny Wolpe, Bullets Over Broadway)

'Tain't A Fit Night Out (The Gangster and Flapper Ensemble, Bullets Over Broadway)

Yes, We Have No Bananas (Company, Bullets Over Broadway)

Valentine "Candy!"

A few Valentine pics from "yesteryear!"

(I'll caption 'em, for you youngsters out there...)

                            

Marilyn Monroe

Audrey Hepburn (as Cupid?)

Betty Hutton, doing what I do most of the time!

Doris Day "didn't know what time it was",

but then she bought a clock! 

Even Elizabeth Taylor appreciates a Whitman's Sampler!

Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood (pre-boating event!)

Shirley Temple, watering her crop of Valentine Trees

 

Ann Miller, destroying scenery

Cyd Charisse, actually IN a Whitman's Sampler!

Kim Novak, that "Funny Valentine!"

Playlist For February 14, 2021: Be Mine!

Well, "the eyes have it!" As in, "I can see clearly now", with the cat-aract procedure done, spit spot! My cat is in focus now. The snow never seemed so white, my wardrobe so in need of a dry clean, and Netflix is a "Wonderful World Of Color" (did you just see a peacock?).  And I can now go forward, reading signs at 1,000 feet, leaping tall buildings faster than a speeding bullet, and all that. Geez, I guess I should be playing "It's A Bird...It's A Plane...It's Superman(woman/gnome/rockette!)".

 

But we can't have that! Cuz it's Valentine's Day and time for hearts, flowers, candy, and LOVE. And there's a lotta love on Broadway. The #1 topic of songwriters for simply eons (which is longer than an ERA, right? I always get those 2 mixed up). From "I Wish I Were In..." to "I Can't Be In...", from "I Won't Say I'm In..." to "People Will Say We're In...", from "I'm In The Mood For..." to...awwwww, you get the picture. 2 hours of sappy, starry-eyed (more vision issues...see a doc!), sometimes pissy, often sugary, occasionally snarky LOVE songs, and loads of them. But after this edition, remember to brush, cuz some of these babies are WAAAY SWEET! 

 

 Some of our songbirds that day will be: Liza, Faith, Judy and Mickey, Ethel, Rudy, and Audra. PLUS Oklahoma!, The Band's Visit, Our Gang, Hercules, Horsefeathers, and Goldilocks. Sheesh. Each with its own perspective on this insanely popular emotion. And like chocolates in a Whitman Sample, some ya just wanna put back! 

 

  So find a comfy, cozy nook, and crack open this "musical box" of goodies with me. Oh, and feel free to send me white chocolate. Otto Bruno hates it, which means he won't try and steal it all, when he hands off the production reins to me this Sunday. Mine. All Mine!

 

 Dear Love (Liza Minnelli, Flora The Red Menace)

Love Is Good For Anything That Ails You (Phyllis Robins, Nicholas Orlando's Orchestra)

I Wanna Be Loved By You (Marilyn Monroe, Some Like It Hot)

I Wish I Were In Love Again (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Babes In Arms)

A Bushel And A Peck (Faith Prince, Ensemble, Guys And Dolls)

Love Betsy (Rob McClure, Honeymoon In Vegas)

I Could Be In Love With Someone Like You (Jason Robert Brown, Wearing Someone Else's Clothes)

Lovesick (Sherie Rene Scott, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown)

Once You Lose Your Heart (Emma Thompson, Me And My Girl)

Heart's Desire (Jessica Molaskey, At The Algonquin)

Beat Of Your Heart (Andrew Polk, John Cariani, The Band's Visit)

My Crazy Heart (Patti LuPone, Sherie Rene Scott, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown)

I'm In The Mood For Love (Darla Hood, Our Gang)

Everyone Says I Love You (The Marx Brothers, Horsefeathers)

I Can't Give You Anything But Love (Annette Hanshaw)

Let Me Call You Sweetheart (Carl Switzer, Our Gang)

This Can't Be Love (Jack Cassidy, Portia Nelson, The Boys From Syracuse) 

You're Just In Love (Donald O'Connor, Ethel Merman, Call Me Madam)

My Funny Valentine (Trudy Stevens, Pal Joey)

Love Is The Reason (Shirley Booth, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn)

I'm Not At All In Love (Janet Paige, The Pajama Game)

I Won't Say I'm In Love (Susan Egan, Hercules)

I Can't Be In Love (Don Ameeche, Goldilocks)

Outside Of That I Love You (Michael McGrath, Judy Blazer, Louisiana Purchase)

I'll Never Fall In Love Again (Kristin Chenoweth, Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises

People Will Say We're In Love (Alfred Drake, Joan Roberts, Oklahoma!)

Who Do You Love, I Hope (Andrew Palermo, Nicole Ruth Snelson, Annie Get Your Gun)

So In Love (Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Kiss Me Kate)

Love From A Heart Of Gold (Rudy Vallee, Virginia Martin, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying)

Loads Of Love (Diahann Carroll, No Strings)

What Do I Need With Love? (Gavin Creel, Thoroughly Modern Millie)

Love For Sale (Ensemble, The New Yorkers)

Down With Love (Audra McDonald) 

You Made Me Love You (George S. Irving, Patsy Kelly, Irene)